Please note that if you run Yahoo Messenger from a FAT32 disk, this fix disables some features from Yahoo Messenger, like chat rooms and the plug-in manager. NTFS is the standard file system used in Windows 2000, Windows XP, Windows Vista, so it's likely that you won't see these limitations if you use a recent version of windows.

The .bat file you've just downloaded edits most registry values related to the ads in Yahoo Messenger from HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\ Yahoo\pager\YUrl, replacing the data with a dummy asterisk. Here's the list of string values:

The patch also makes the file C:\Program Files\Yahoo!\Messenger\Cache\urls.xml read-only and it revokes all the permissions for the file, but only for NTFS disks.

If you install new versions of Yahoo Messenger, you'll have to repeat the steps above, as Yahoo setup rewrites the registry entries. New versions will most likely make removing the ads more difficult or even impossible.

Once your get to the path just right select new then select string Type in the name provided then right click on it again and go to modify put a * (an asterisk) in that box. ***WORKS*** only takes about 30 seconds and it's worth it. With all the IMes and bots just going around spreading it on yahoo next release of yahoo messengers it's going to be patched more then likely..

To make it even easier for some, just paste the stuff between the dashed lines below into Notepad or your favorite text editor. Save it as NoYIMAds.reg or anything else you want to name it, as long as the file extension is .reg. Also be sure that you don't include the dashed lines.

This solution sort of works; I say "sort of" because the messenger still loads embedded web browser - it's just that as expected, it can't open the ad URL, resulting in the stupid "Action canceled" message shown in the frame. To avoid seeing that message, replace the asterisks in the URL values with "about:blank" or whatever content you feel like seeing at the bottom of your messenger.

A real fix would be to stop the messenger from embedding IE in the first place.

this worked good. i upgraded to get rid of their stupid dialog box. when i upgraded, their new ads starting crashing Yahoo Messenger immediately after loading. I was able to go into the SYSTEM#2 directory and rename MSHTML.DLL to MSHTML.DLL.OLD and able to load the program. i saw the ad box and new that's what was causing it. I installed the above patch and the ad box is now gone. Since I don't use IE or most functions that integrate windows with the web, I might not rename the file back. But for those of you who are like me who don't use IE, renaming MSHTML.DLL might help some of you. Remember. RENAME. don't delete! You may need it some point in the future.

We don't have to struggle that hard in it.Yahoo has very much given you a simple user friendly method to take off all those unwanted 'plugins'.

Just click on 'Plug-ins' at bottom left of the screen. Alternately, we can choose from menubar 'Actions' > 'Choose plugins'.And simple add or remove whichever is good to use or annoying not to be seen :)

I must say, they've done a good job otherwise and should be appreciated :)

I'm glad everyone is as pleased as I am. As to seeing those "You are not authorized blah blah blah..." messages, I never saw them. Since I don't think I did anything different, it may be that I run eDexter. It replaces all those messages from ad sites that you've blocked with HOSTS or whatever with blank graphics. So, no more messages.

I think everyone should install it, but even if you don't, there is some interesting reading here:

There is a slight probl with the final release of version 8 (build 862).After I modify the registry and delete de xml file, the banner dissapears.But after a while the xml file is recreated and the banner reappears.

For those that were aware of registry tweaks, you'll notice that the bat shown here modifies the urls.xml file by removing any content and then setting it to read only. This is the big difference between YMsgs prior to 8.0.0.682. Setting the xml to read only keeps messenger from re-adding its evil banners.

Your fix does not work with the new 8.0.0.683 build actually ! But nobody forces you to upgrade is a silly comment because using official version is better then the beta one. I hope you guy have a fine solution to disable ads in YM8 !

Yahoo upgraded their program now on version 8.0.0.701 the solutin u offered is no longer useableso i suggest u tell me how to do it now :D...it's a matter of makeing the urls.xml stop appearing or editing it so that it would no longer show the ads in the body of the messenger

Thanks a lot!! I can't believe they didn't make these retarded ad banners optional. Do they really expect users to watch commercials on their desktop all day? I mean - people are _working_... hello?! At the very least there should be a $10 opt-out.

I am also keeping an install version of YM 6 around, just in case. And Trillian. On the Mac, I have Adium which is a better YM client than YM in any case, so no issues there.

Its your right? Yes it would be if you paid for the service. But since you are not, i guess it is Yahoo's right to make some money by showing ads, so that they can keep giving you the excellent service that they have been giving.

There's another patch for build 701 on www.9down.com, but it's very buggy, so I don't recommend using it until it'll be fixed. Doesn't look like patch here is going to be updated too. So it looks like we'll have to stick to build 683 for eternity, or use messenger with ads.

I agree that Yahoo has the right to include ads, pop-ups and other things in its software, but people should react and either force them to change their practices or migrate to a better alternative. For the moment, Google Talk, gaim and meebo are my favorite alternatives.

And one more thing: I wouldn't recommend you to install exe files as patches for Yahoo Messenger (and other software), as this can be done with reg/bat files. That exe files could have a hidden agenda, while a reg/bat file can be checked easily.

Type netstat at a command prompt (hold the windows key and press r) the address that starts with "pclick." is the yahoo ad domain. It doesnt show up unless the messenger screen is active. Right click on the command window and select "mark", highlight the url starting at pclick up to but not including ":http" press enter. In the run dialog (windows key+R)type "notepad C:\WINDOWS\system32\drivers\etc\HOSTS" (without quotes) and press enter. On the next line after 127.0.0.1 localhost type "127.0.0.1" press tab and paste the url you copied earlier don't forget to save before you exit. The change will not take effect until you restart.

The fix for 683 doesn't work in 701. I've updated it with a new registry value, that blocks the ads, the access to chats and probably other things. It works fine for me, as I don't use the chats. If you see other problems, please let me know.

I made this fix mostly for myself, as I don't like the Flash banner in the main window. If it's useful for other people, it's even better.

Alex, I have a very, very huge problem. After I installed 701 build and tried various ads removers for it, your patch for build 683 doesn't work for me anymore. I have build 683 installed now, and I see no reason for your patch to stop working (after uninstall of 701 I cleaned all Yahoo! files and registry keys. "Documents and Settings"; "Program Files"; registry itself). It happened only after I tried ads removers. And you were right, messing with .exe files to any version is wrong. None of them works normal. Any advices? Preferable other than "roll back to 7.x". I'd greatly appreciate any help! And I'm really starting to hate Yahoo! for their advertisement politics.

"Lol, is really funny but you guys have the most complicated answer to the most simple issue."

I tried that and even restarted the comp, but it didn't work for v8 b711. I tried the posted solution as well but didn't work, either. so I don't know what else. if anyone has any more solution, please shed the light. tnx much!

It works for me too but I still have one thing that it's annoying for me: if my friend has an older version of messenger, in conversation window apear a message that said that you should invite your friend to upgrade. How can I remove this message from there?Thanks

Great stuff! YiM's ad all of a sudden started using up 100% of my CPU time displaying some Fido SWF add, setting the ad to low quality helped for a short period, then it just reverted back to high quality. I tried sending in a bug report to them, but that part of YiM failed to send...Thanx for the "fix!"

I can't get it to work on mine and I really need it. If I even run my cursor over my messenger I get a browser page offering me a greencard. My messenger is on drive D but this opens on my desktop which is drive C. Is there a way to get this to work? Oh and please be very clear with instructions as I am not all that great at this stuff. Thanks in advance.

There's another patch here: http://www.wackyb.co.nz/vb/showthread.php?t=348 It removes ads and still keep the chatroom accessible, so like a charm... The patch is an exe file so I don't know the change details though.

Alex, I am hoping you still monitor this. I am annoyed that when I update my yahoo mail "contacts", I then get duplicate contacts in Yahoo Messenger. I have found that if I rename one of the files in the yahoo/cahce directory, oVgdX4ulexuxzE.PgYzSAQ--.ab.xml, I will get rid of the duplicates. It appears that I am getting rid of the wrong duplicates. What I want to do is keep the "new" contacts that get picked up from Yahoo mail and get rid of the "old" contacts that seem to remain in Yahoo Messenger. Any suggestions besides going in and deleting the 200 duplicate names one by one in Yahoo messenger?Thanks,allen_moretsky@yahoo.com

Odd, I just installed IM on my win2000 computer and no adds, so I reinstalled it on my win98 computer, still has adds. why is OS making a difference?

9/07/2006 6:58 PM _____________________________________

I think you will find that the two systems have different screen resolutions. It is my understanding that they built in some kind of command to check resolutions and not insert the add into lower resolution systems. Taking that, as their determining factor that the system would be slower, as to not to bog down older slower systems with the adds. Probably, to try to keep those users with slower systems as pleased as possible with their service.

Does removing the ad banner disable the webcam for anyone? My webcam looks like it is sending an image but no one can see it. This only happens on the one machine that I edited the registry to remove the ad banner on.

I'm glad to see that you are sharing this with the rest of the world. We need to show that we are not going to just sit idle as we are inundated by a ton of ads in our software. Good work and thanks for sharing this for everyone to benefit. Oh and for the person who inevitably is going to say that, "Ads help pay for this software!", you need to not only take another look at how long IM's have been around and free, but also how rich Yahoo is and I seriously doubt that they "need" the money from these ads...

First of all congratulations for this Good Thing you have do to help others.

I just suprised after installing new version of Yahoo Messenger 8.1.0.206 India, some new entries come into reg file. After installing this new version I am able to see new rooms Yahoo made for India. But these rooms are not available on ordinary version. It has some new entries in the reg file by this only India rooms are extended (full viewable) but I think for every coutry Yahoo made some new rooms, only installaion for that country version you will get these rooms. Please look into this matter. : Udayan : udayana_pkt@yahoo.com

As for Yahoo - they keep on shooting themselves in the foot - good luck Yahoo! I'll definitely move to an alternative like GAIM where Yahoo can't play these games. Yes - it's Yahoo's right to put in these annoying ads and yes it's my right to send their product to the software cemetery.

well the trick worked for me thanks guys... as for the guys bemoaning yahoos right to bludgeon us to death with system resource consuming ads for things no one wants to buy anyway?? blechhhhh.. they make a fortune from advertising on their main page and from all the spam that "accidently" makes its way into your yahoo mail account not to mention what they make from paid voip users..... the next questions begs to be asked.. if you dont like yahoo messenger why not just use google chat or use an alternate client like trillion??????

I just cleared browsing history, and then re-loaded messenger. (just so people know, I'm just now jumping into this topic) My results were a php file that yahoo calls up when it logs in. the registry calls up, and I'm sure there's a long list of these somewhere and this is just one of them, but the site http://messenger.yahoo.com/external/client_ad.php?p=409640I'm pretty sure the only way to officially remove the ad is to keep it from loading this php file. I may be wrong, but someone here said you can disable yahoo from using IE, but I was pretty sure that most of yahoo was built on top of IE and some .xml files. I'm going to keep searching for a way to block this, I'm starting in the .xml files though cause I hate trying to edit the registry. Just so you all know, I'm using 8.1.0.209.

Arcanewulf, the link http://messenger.yahoo.com/external/client_ad.php?p=409640 is hardedcoded into the exe and in the urls.xml file, why deleting the urls.xml file an making it read only does not work anymore.

What my patch does is remove the harded url from the exe then delete the urls.xml then make its own urls.xml and make it ready only then change some offsets in the messenger exe and hey presto, no more ads.

Dermot... why dont you also tell people that your software sends you thier passwords... what a script kiddie.

The bat above works just fine. You can edit it and omit the chatroom reg edits. It will still work. This is just like the old skool way of pulling the ad... just change the web address for thier ad server.

Trust someone hiding under a anonymous tag to bash and lie about any software i make. I niether steal or want to steal anybodies passwords and if you knew anything about yahoo you would know they now encrypt their saved passwords to stop people from stealing them from the registry, using a bat file will not remove the buddylist advertisement as the client retains the ad url embedded in its exe no matter if the urls xml file is read only which is exactly what the batch file does, the registry edits work fine but the read only trick does not. If future when you want to bash me on a open discussion at least have the balls to actually leave your name and actually learn about yahoo! messenger.

Thank you very much, I sure appreciate being able to get rid of that annoyance, it perhaps wouldnt bother me so much except that it convered my friends up! I have been using a previous version to avoid this problem. Nice to be able to upgrade-Troy

Oh Thank you, thank you for that info!!! I have messenger on my work computer and the ads won't run so all day I get this dumb run scripts error http://messenger.yahoo.com/external/client_ad.php?p=409640 if I have yahoo messenger on, and I could not figure out how to get rid of it. Your fix did the trick!

YM 9? Works. Just a little bit triky. I tried in Vista and work. Don't know with others Windows. In YM they more smart. If it smell url.xml is not right, it refuse to login. If it able to login, then your url.xml must be in normal condition. So here is how to do it. First close the YM. Run the noYMAds.bat, make sure it doesn't show any error message. Go to the url.xml, make sure the file is empty and read only. Open the url.xml using 5 or more program. Now run the YM 9. Wait until it login, and about 5 minutes. If in 5 minutes the YM doesn't show ads then you may close the 5 or more earlier program. I use Word 2007, IE, Notepad, Wordpad, One Note, Opera to open url.xml. Why? In vista if you open a file, the OS lock the file, so YM 9 can't modified. Please someone try this in Windows XP? Thx.

Let the program launch at least once to obtain the correct info for the file then exit. Go to C:\Program Files\Yahoo!\Messenger\Cache\ and edit the file so that the first two url lines (Messenger Ad and Idle Messenger Ad) are deleted. The other two urls can be left intact. Save your changes and then rightclick the file and choose properties. Admin account may be needed for this part: Check the read only box then go into Security and then Advanced. Uncheck Inherit and Remove all permissions when prompted. Save the changes and click okay when warned that no one other than the owner will have access. Now YIM will launch and not have permission to modify the file, only read it.

FWIW, I use the TweakUI-XP option to prevent programs from stealing focus, but Yahoo Messenger still overrides it every time it loads and signs me in. My work-around is to open TUI-XP after I am signed in to Y-M to reset the focus option It seems to stick thereafter.

I'm running Yahoo messenger 8.1 on vista 32 -bit. The post say go to cache file. Mine is empty. The batch file I downloaded from the instructions, all it does is flash the command prompt. Don't act like it does anything??? Please tell me how to do it. E-mail me at reddsoxchamps@yahoo.com

1.Run Registry Editor (regedit.exe).2.Navigate to the following registry key: HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Yahoo\pager\Locale3.In the right pane, locate a value named Enable Messenger 4.Ad with default value as 1. Set the value to 0.5.Restart Yahoo! Messenger 9.0.